Henry Newman: Newport keeper was the difference

Henry Newman refused to blame the outstanding performance of Newport County goalkeeper Joe Day for Barnet’s failure to take more than a point at The Hive London.

Graham Westley’s side escaped with the point they had come for with the game finishing 0-0 and Day having pulled off several fine stops to thwart the Bees.

Speaking afterwards, Newman said: “He was the difference between the score being 0-0 and 5-0. It was plain to see how many saves he made.

“But that is the game of football: there are 11 players on the pitch and you have to beat all 11 to score a goal so we’re not going to sit here and start moaning about how great the goalkeeper was and that we were unlucky today.

“We’re very pleased with the football we’ve played but the message is very clear: you’ve got to beat the goalkeeper as well. We’ve got to make sure we put the ball in the back of the net because we certainly created enough chances to do that.”

The Bees piled on the pressure in the second half with Nana Kyei, John Akinde and Simeon Akinola going closest to breaking the deadlock for the hosts.

Reflecting on the point, Rossi Eames said: “Frustrated is the right word to use. We played very well in the second half and for the last 10 or 15 minutes of the first half.

“We were back to how we’ve been playing and that was positive.

“But we haven’t put the ball in the net. Credit to Newport and how they defended. Their goalkeeper made some excellent saves today.

“We’ve got to be positive. It’s a point, a clean sheet. We wanted two more points to add to the one. It’s a long season and we go again.”